The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1887-06-18

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SENATOR VEST TALKS.
From the st. LOUIS Republican,
Senator Vest was in the city yester-
day looking remarkably well. He
: said very emphaticallv that he was not
5 ~ in the west on any political mission OF
: - any kind and that he had no idea OF
speaking at Jefferson City or any
where else.
s'When the people want ne at JET
ferson City they will send me there,
instead of to- Washington" said the
senator. 81 should like to see the
members, for I have some old friends
among them, but all sorts of lies would
be manufactured about my visit, and
it would do no good. My views on
railroad legislation are all well known,
and rnothipg I could say could make
them more emphatic or distinct. l said at
the last state convention OF the party
what 1 say now, that the provisions OF
the state constitution on the subject OF
railroads should be enforced, and L
sincerely hope the democrats in the
49, legislature will carry out the pledges
made in our state platform. The re-
pubticans, in their state convention,
5.o1ol said the same thing, but that is like
their promise to reform the tariff and
reduce taxation. They forget all about
it when the time comes for action.
"The railroads should be treated
Justly and fairly, like other citizens, but
they are public servants and not d
pendent of the law. They are servants
of the people and subject to the hmita-
tons which the legislature may enact
under the constitution. They have
7-E.H valuable corporate powers given them
~ t-E- 90 nr1h1in ono,lfa and If yUnnI6 ha an
- outrage upon sense and justice to say
that the state cannot regulate the way
in which their business is transacted.
Here in Missouri we have given to
4 railroads, as a state and by muDicipali-
ties, more than $50, 600, 000-not to
build up corporations greater than the
state, but to create means and agencies
for transportation which should be
subject to lawful control. The wisdom
and unwisdom of the constitutional
y : provisions is not an open question.
That has been settled by the people,
and until the organic law is changed, it
should be enforced. Every law which
becomes a dead letter is an argument
against popular government, and an
invitation to lawlessness and anarchy.
The conviction is universal and over
whelmiug that there is necessity for
legislation, Just as long as the ship
per iscompelled to pay more to points
where there Is no competition than he
would pay if competition existed, this
conviction will obtain. When 1 am
sY-.C forced to pay more from st. Louis to
Sedalia than from st. Louis to Kansas
CITY on the same road and for the same
freight, although Sedalia Is nearer St.
= Louis, there is no use in talking about
- the present avs being sufficient. Con-
- ~ gress has tried to do its duty by pass
y A.. ing the Interstate law, but
I congress cannot reach the evils of which
I speak when within a single state.
The state legislatures must do their
duty. 1 don't know anything about
the details of the proposed legislation
at jefferson, bnt l do know that the
Legislature should pass some bill as
soon as possible in conformity with the
organic law"
SENATOR SHERMAN.
stHave you read Senator. Sherman's
speech3"
Eyes, I have read his speeches care
fully, both at Nashville and at Spring
field, Senator Sherman has great
courage and ability, but he has a ter
ribie. case of presidential fever, and
: that disease often affects the memory
and warps the judgment. He never
acts from impulse, and is as passiOnless
as a corporation, but he makes mistakes. |
When his two speeches are put side by
side, they are unworthy of his intellect.
The people detest insincerity, and it is
impossible to think Mr.. Sherman sim
cere. 1t is impossible that the south
ern people should be brave, honest,
self-sacri6cing and heroic as he repre-
sented them at Nashville, and the
murderers, thugs and assasains he
= described them at Springfield. 1t
is impossible that he was sincere
in declaring the repeal of the Mis-
souri, compromise to have been the
greatest political crime of the age,
and charging it to the unholy' anu
did at Nashville, and then at Spring
field, putting Douglas by the side OF
Lincoln, Saints alike in the galaxy Of
the patriotic dead of the republic
"It is all very WE'LL" continued the
senator, "for MIR. Sherman to sheer al
the democratic party as opposed to
education because 1t would decrease
their vote, but he ought not in the same
speech to have complained that the ig-
norant negroes of the south were de-
prived of suffrage in five of the southern
states, which would otherwise 60 for
the republican party. Of course Mr..
Sherman is a republican and has the
right to attack his political opponents,
but he ought not to sink the statesman
entirely, and resort to unfair methods.
'!!Ha ssneers at President Cleveland
for fn6f approving the last river and
~~aharbor bill, and says he has never been
.sass1 GWest OF Buffalo, but Mr.. Sherman
Knows that both Grant and Arthur
vetoed river and harbor bills when
their Yetoes left the engineer corps
mWithout . dollar for river and harbor
- improvements. In the case of Cleve-
Tsxs Mnd, III SeHgineer report accompanying
the bill shpw wed that more than 0,000,-
~sS O00aof the1ast river and harbor appro-
priation was on hand and unexpended,
and the president thought the proposed
appropriation unnecessary. And now
when President Cleveland wants to
come west of Buffalo, Mr.. Sherman's
friends in the G. A. r. propose to insult
him if he crosses the Mississippi river.
"Of course, all such vaporing
amounts to nothing, and only excites
contempt, but it shows the animus of
these people, and how readily they
subordinate every other considerati on
to that of party. Mr.. Sherman is UNI
fair upon the tariff question and the
reduction of the surplus. He taunts
the democrats with their failure to act
upon this question when he knows his
party in the house voted solidly twice
against even considering the matter,
Notwithstanding their platform pledged
them to reform the irregularities of
the present tariff, and to reduce the
surplus.'
A NASHVILLE
Mr. Sherman declared that the 'republi-
can idea Is embodied in the present
tariff and this means, of course, all
sorts of jobs and schemes to get money
out of the treasury without touching